Relocate or get more experience

I work at a very small community hospital for almost 3 years now. I worked on tele floor then almost six months ago I was transferred to the Emergency Department. For me this was a good thing, I finally get a chance to take care of critical care patients at the cost of dealing with pediatrics. The problem my current workplace is 2 hours away and to be honest it's one of the lowest paying hospitals in the state. My mother and sister are telling me to apply to the hospital they work at which is only 20 minutes away, is a University Hospital so I get a larger learning opportunity, and is one of the highest paying for nurses in the state. I applied for their ED and got an auto rejection notice from their stupid HR computers. My family is telling me to apply to the floor and within six months transfer to wherever I want (to be honest that crap never works, I tried transferring to ICU at my current job and it never happened). I don't want to work in the floor again as it seems a step back in my ultimate goal of critical care nursing but I cannot deny the almost 20K a year raise and proximity to home. What would you guys do?
I would suck it up and work the floor for a while so the facility can get a feel for your skill. It may be a step back, but it's a step back that gets better pay and shorter distance from home, which also earns money saved in gas. With 3 years experience, you should have an easier time getting a floor job. Also, before applying, call HR first. Tell them you know so and so and they entwined some openings and you are interested. HR can make sure you don't get auto rejected again when you apply again. GL
Your ER experience should help you get into critical care. Are there any critical care openings, you most likely have the ACLS certification which is very useful in critical care. Sometimes getting transferred to another area is difficult because often the unit managers have control of the transfer not HR. If the hospital where you would move to is a more upscale hospital with newer procedures etc I would suggest you move even if going out on the floor. A teaching hospital is going to have the newer equipment, updated protocols, research etc and there may be more opportunities there. Funding is going to be a major issue for all hospitals and the smaller ones may not be as profitable as they have been in the past, meaning eventually they will be bought out by the larger hospitals. So, you might as well get associated with the larger one. I would apply for both a critical care and a progressive care or intermediate care position before a med surg floor. You will still have some critical care experience being tapped on the more critical or step down floors and it will help you to be more visible to the managers who associate with the critical care units.