If you want to see one in person (and you live in/near the country) here's what you do:
1) Research which owl species live around you.
2) Get a battery-run CD player with good speakers
3) Get a CD with owl calls that match the owls in your area
4) Go out somewhere in the country, near but not actually in the woods (you want to be able to look up and see the owl's shadow)
5) Play the owl call, depending on what you want to draw in. Don't play it too loud; let the call run for about 3-4 seconds, then pause the track and listen for a bit. If there are owls nearby, they'll answer; they're territorial birds
6) If you hear nothing turn up the volume a little bit and keep trying. Don't ever turn it up all the way; a few notches louder than normal listening volume should be good, and normal listening volume is fine if there's no nearby traffic or background noise
7) When the wild owl sounds like it's gotten close, keep your eyes open above you. It may go over your head and you will NOT hear it flying. They're dead silent.
If an owl never calls back or if it suddenly shuts up, you probably attracted one or more great-horned owls to the area. Great-horned will eat other owls without hesitation so any other species won't risk making a sound. Be VERY careful if you think there's a great-horned around. They can drop a full grown man to the ground by diving on him, they're that powerful, and they're not nice birds. Stop playing the calls altogether if you think you drew one in, but if you keep looking up in the sky you might see it fly by.
Also, in case you didn't know, you can't actually have an owl as a pet. xD You can't even have an owl feather you found on the ground without a license for it; it's highly illegal and will get you in a lot of trouble. Just keep that in mind~ <3