Chess Rating Question

I want to eventually become a rated chess player (USCF or FIDE...) is there a way to do this online?

i do not think so...these rating are for OTB games(if i call the correctly) i mean real offline tournaments but i am not 100% sure...

The only way to become rated in USCF is to play in official USCF tournaments. See upcoming OTB tournments here:

http://main.uschess.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=199

Or you could get a USCF Correspondence rating by playing in those tournaments.

http://www.uschess.org/content/view/12023/393/

But the follow up is "what rating do you wish to reach?"

Ok, I'm new to the whole rating thing. I have looked at the www.uschess.org site. I would be interested in playing in a tournament, however, the closest major city to me is Seattle, which is 2 hours away. I wouldn't mind going down for a day or two to enter a tournament, but I don't know where to begin. Any suggestions? Sorry, tournaments are all new to me

Join a local club and get used to playing OTB. It is much different than playing here or against your computer. You have to learn how to manage a clock, play against someone actually sitting across the board from you, etc. There is one in your area called North Olympic Peninsula Chess Club.

They will be able to teach you how what needs to be done to enter a tournament. They also hold tournaments that are USCF sanctioned so you wouldn't need to travel two hours one way. A tournament can be very tiring.